Having finally dealt with everything he needed to, especially resolving the work issue and other concerns with his sister, Christian felt a sense of relief.
Feeling contented, Christian returned to his normal routine of going to school, the one which has just two days remaining till classes stop, received the Idle Practice of his skills, worked a little on trading, with the rest of the time just reading something.
Actually now that he had finished dealing with everything related to his sister, he began to reflect on the initial two things he had set out to accomplish.
The first being hacking the police site, which he hadn't even attempted yet, despite it being the original reason he had started learning programming hacking in the first place.
In fact, recently he had found himself avoiding using program hacking altogether, fearing the police might investigate him. If they found any traces of his activities, it would bring dangerous consequences after all.
But since more than a week had passed without any repercussions from the incident, Christian was becoming increasingly confident that the dangerous period had ended. Now, he was just waiting for his Program Hacking skill to become advanced, and once that happened, he could proceed without hesitation.
The anticipation of starting his plan also filled him with a mix of excitement and caution, knowing one wrong step and he would be done for.
Then, aside from Program Hacking, there was Eva. Even after all this time, Christian felt he should at least try talking to her.
However, after cooling his head and reflecting carefully, especially with the passage of time, he realized that what he felt for her was more like attraction and a crush rather than that first love.
But even after realizing that it was not love, he didn't see why it would be a problem to pursue her. After all, it's not like all relationships begin with love.
It just needed that spark of interest, which he had plenty of.
Even then, he didn't want to invest too much of his efforts or try too hard. So, with the option of talking to her through Olivia closed, he was prepared to take a chance in one place and see where his luck would lead. After all, it was certainly better than regretting not trying at all later on.
So, knowing his school would end in two days, he prepared to visit the restaurant where he had seen Eva in several pictures on Olivia's account.
Confirming his goals, time began to move again, and it was Tuesday. However, contrary to his expectations of a typical end-of-school day, something unexpected occurred, or rather, it happened faster than he thought.
The notice of Clayton's expulsion was announced, and while they didn't clearly specify the reasons exactly, words like "corruption" and "academic fraud" were mentioned. They even indicated that a lawsuit and other procedures were now going against him.
Christian felt that it was now just a matter of time until Clayton's situation really came to an end.
He could also tell from the momentum with which the school was acting that something had changed, prompting them to move quickly and efficiently.
Without giving it much thought, he concluded that Olivia was somehow involved in this development.
But he didn't bother searching for answers to confirm his suspicions; he simply let it go, feeling relieved that the last concern he had was finally lifted.
The initial rush of excitement and joy didn't linger for long, but seeing the topic of cheating and other issues being discussed again among the students gave Christian a slight sense of triumph, while he continued his day as usual.
Then the last day of classes, Wednesday, arrived, and nothing noteworthy occurred at school. However, when his sister returned from work, she informed him that the following day would be her last day on the job.
Feeling as if everything was going too smoothly, Christian couldn't shake off a nagging sense of unease. It was a familiar trope in novels after all: when the protagonist started to feel too comfortable or when things were going too easily, the writer would throw something unexpected into the mix, inevitably disrupting the protagonist's hard earned peace.
But surely, nothing would happen to him, right?
With mixed feelings, Thursday arrived, and with no school to attend, Christian settled into his day.
After eating, receiving his accumulated practice slots, and taking a shower, Christian relaxed as he gazed at the status window in front of him.
Host: Christian White
Level: 16 (EXP: 1.300/13.000)
Skills: Advanced Trading Lv.1(60%) , Passion Reader Lv.- , Intermediate Program Hacking Lv.9(25%) , Basic Kinetix Body Building Lv.6(95%) , High School Knowledge Lv.10(Max) , Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Lv.3(87%)
Idle practicing slots:(0/3)
The changes in his status window made Christian feel a bit emotional, as he realized just how far he had come.
His level had risen today to sixteen, marking more than halfway to twenty, which he hoped would be the benchmark for granting him another Idle Practicing slot.
His constitution had also increased two days ago, but he wasn't sure when it would raise again.
But despite the overall increase being just three, Christian felt confident he could easily take on more than five of his previous self before he had the system, or maybe more?
As for his skills, everything was running smoothly, with program hacking just around the corner from advancing.
Having nothing more to do after checking his progress, Christian continued to gaze at his status window, at its blue frame reflecting his boredom, as he let his thoughts wander elsewhere.
His initial desire for someone to work for him, enabling him to take things even more easily, hadn't faded nor forgotten. He was still contemplating the right solution to achieve that goal.
Now, as he glanced at his status window and then at his Program Hacking skill, he was suddenly struck by an epiphany.
If he couldn't find someone to help him take things more easily, he could just create one.
His Idle system was helping him study, practice, and research everything, but it wouldn't assist him with real-life problems. So, he could just create another system to address those challenges.